Makaan compound residents get contaminated water again

The Hindu : Front Page : Makaan compound residents get contaminated water again

Residents of Makaan compound in Bharatinagar have been getting discoloured and stinking water through their taps for the past eight days.

A five-year-old child, Ismail Khan, is down with vomiting and diarrhoea and several others are complaining of uneasiness and nausea.

Nasreen Khan, mother of the affected child, said, “When we took Ismail to Bowring Hospital, the doctors ignored us. So we took him to a private hospital where he was admitted for a day. It all happened because Ismail drank water directly from the tap without my knowledge,” said Ms. Khan, whose husband is a roadside fruit vendor.
Pleas unheard

This is the third time that water contamination has been reported from the area in six months.

In January, at least 50 people from this area were admitted to the Isolation Hospital with symptoms of gastroenteritis.

Following the intervention of the former area councillor M. Pari, BBMP personnel turned up and removed the muck and silt from the open drains, only to dump it right on the road.

“But this has only added to our problems as the muck has spread all over the road after it rained. We are living amidst filth and squalor and are also forced to consume dirty water. The officials can spend crores on major projects, but hesitate to spend a few lakhs on changing our pipes. We are fed up,” said Shanta Kumari, another resident.

The jurisdictional BWSSB officials admitted that sewage had got mixed with drinking water in the area. “Most of the water lines are criss-crossing sewage lines here. Some even pass through storm-water drains. This is because the residents have not bothered to route the water supply lines in a proper manner. Following the damage of one main water line, sewage has entered the entire network resulting in contamination,” N. Satish, BWSSB Assistant Executive Engineer for High Grounds Sub-Division, said.

He said water supply to the area had been stopped and that the problem would be set right by Wednesday evening.